Companies around the world, whether they have five employees or five thousand, have one thing in common: a need for computer and network security. How they approach it is another thing entirely.

A company with five employees may deploy a simple firewall appliance and gateway security software, along with end-user protection, and management of the entire security infrastructure might be delegated to whichever individual seems to be most adept at technology.

The task would be allocated alongside dozens of other tasks. A mid-sized company, on the other hand, may need a full-time security administrator, and a Fortune 500 company may employ an entire IT security department led by a chief security officer.

While the cost of equipment and software will naturally be greater for larger companies, by far the greatest security expense is manpower. To be sure, the maturity of dedicated gateway appliances using Unified Threat Management (UTM) technology, which combines multiple security functions under a single umbrella, has simplified management and reduced cost; but security remains a high-profile, high-budget item.

The cost of not having adequate security is far too great to not make security a top priority.